ssued a proclamation to the same effect.
Still later, Cornwallis issued a proclamation specifying the grant of
"freedom and protection" to all Negroes who would seek his command.
Whatever motive prompted the issuance of these orders, it is evident
that the status of the Negro during this "emergency" as regarded by
Great Britain was that of a freeman.

To these proclamations many Negroes responded. For instance, General
Greene learned on Long Island that a group of Negroes aggregating two
hundred (200) had in July, 1776, sought freedom within the British
lines and had been accepted as a regiment in that vicinity.[7] He
reported, moreover, to General Washington in 1781 that enough Negroes
in North Carolina to form two regiments had sought British freedom and
protection and that they were being organized by the British.[8]
Whether they came within the British lines as a result of these
proclamations or in recognition of the laws of war "it has been
computed by good judges" says Ramsay,[9] "that at the evacuation of
one part, two hundred and forty-one Negroes and their families were
taken off to St. Lucia in one transport, the _Scimitar_; and that
between the years 1775 and 1783, 25,000 Negroes, that is, one-fifth of
all the slaves, were taken from the State of South Carolina." In
Georgia,[10] there was made a report that the loss was much greater,
probably three-fourths or seven-eighths of all the Negroes in the
State. Again, from an estimate made at the time, Jefferson observed
that about thirty thousand Negroes were taken from Virginia.[11] From
the other slave-holding States which were invaded by the British, many
other Negroes were carried away from their masters. So effectively was
the scheme carried out that fear was expressed throughout the South
less the economic position of that section would be threatened. In
consequence of such actions on the part of Great Britain, General
Washington receded from the position of excluding Negroes from the
American Army and took drastic steps in preventing the carrying away
of other Negroes by Great Britain.[12]

Considered, therefore, as an American slave in time of peace and an
American soldier in time of danger, it is no anomaly that the status
of the Negro complicated the negotiations between military
representatives of Great Britain and the United States. Extended but
fruitless negotiations ensued. A satisfactory settlement of the return
of the Negroes seemed impossible. W